Change is good, isn't it?

I have spent 7 out of the past 9 years serving in Relief Society, over the Home, Family & Personal Enrichment program.  I served as both Enrichment Leader, and then more recently, as the counselor in the presidency over this program.  It was a love/hate relationship - I sometimes dreaded the planning and executing of events and yet really enjoyed it as well.

Today, I was released from my calling, and asked to serve as a Primary teacher for the 6-7 year old class.  I have only taught in Primary once before, for about 3 months.  While I am looking forward to the change, I also am feeling very sad about leaving Relief Society.  I have really enjoyed the sisterhood and spirit that I feel each week and am not quite sure about how much spiritual growth I will experience wrangling the kids in primary.  I do believe that I was given this assignment/calling for a reason and I will do my very best to make sure that the kids actually learn something, most of all, that they are children of God.  

Now, I can attend Enrichment and not worry about all the logistics.  I can come late, leave early, and not lift a finger (okay, Stefanie, if you're reading this, I hope you know I'd never actually do that!).  But I'll miss it.  But change is good, right?

Name That Shape

Olivia started Geometry this week in school.  She's in 3rd Grade.  Geometry was not my strong subject, and 20 years out of school has not increased my knowledge.

Yesterday, she had a homework assignment naming some various geometric shapes.  She and I were both stumped on this one:

Jack, watching from over our shoulders, piped up and announced "It's a trapezoid".  While my first reaction was that he was an absolute genius, I quickly (and calmly) asked him how he knew that.  He said "From my Diego game on my Leapster". 

So all the time he spends playing video games on the computer and his Leapster has not gone to waste.  He's actually learned something.  And being able to correctly identify a trapezoid will get him far in life, I'm sure of it.

Caught in the Act

I heard a shaking sound coming from the kitchen today.  I didn't pay much attention, until it continued for a couple of moments.  I walked in, and this is what I found:

A brand new box of Honey Nut Cheerios, spilled all over the floor.  

Grant had gotten out the broom, and was actually trying to clean them up.  How could I be mad?  Or even irritated?  All I could do was smile, and help him clean up the mess and dump the Cheerios into the garbage (I don't think the floor was clean enough to eat off of...).

Apparently, Grant was hungry.

The definition of stress

Several months ago, a good friend of mine told me the true definition of STRESS:

"It's when you can't possibly take on one more thing, and you find yourself opening your mouth and saying "Sure, I'd be glad to.""  That's it, in a nutshell.

I enjoy the many different interests, separately, in my life.  I enjoy my church calling, and the good feelings that result from my service.  I enjoy volunteering at Olivia's school, teaching the FAME (Fine Arts Mini Experience) program each month.  I enjoy the extra-curricular activities that each of the kids participate in, and the feelings of confidence, success and self-satisfaction they are creating in each of them.  I enjoy (mostly) the tasks and chores that come with being a stay-at-home-mom - I don't mind cooking, picking up toys, doing laundry, etc., and take pride in being a good housewife (by industry standards of course...)

And yet some days, when everything is happening at once, and everyone needs me in every different location, this is how I feel:

Today is one of those days.

Easter Meltdown (and I ain't talking chocolate)

It's hilarious to me how parents (okay, I'm speaking of myself here) have these grand expectations for how children should respond to holidays. I expect my kids to sit happily on Santa's lap, to beam as they search for colored eggs at Easter time, etc. I'm almost always disappointed by my unrealistic expectations, not to mention the photos I get (or don't get, whatever the case may be). So this Easter, I prepared myself, and was actually amused by Grant's reaction to the Easter Egg Hunt at Nan's (Steve's mom) house.

We went outside and the kids found their baskets lined up in a row first. Grant got an Elmo movie in his basket (ironically, titled "What Makes You Happy?") and that was the end of it. He didn't want to search for eggs, even though his eggs were little Elmo-bunnies...so cute! He proceeded to throw himself down on the grass and cry hysterically. All he wanted to do was watch his new movie...which apparently, was too much to ask.




He did eventually end up inside, and once he heard the theme song to Elmo's World, immediately quit crying and was happy as could be.  

I continued the egg hunt in his place, and willingly ate the chocolates hidden inside each one. After all, in 85 degree heat, they were just going to melt if left outside much longer.  It was the least I could do.

My new obsession...and the perfect solution!

I've been a scrapbooker for several years. When Olivia was born, I wanted a fun, creative way to document her life, and scrapbooking seemed to be the perfect solution. It was great...for a while. Then Jack came along, and I wanted to document his life as well. Suddenly, keeping on top of it all started to feel a bit overwhelming. Sure, some of the events of their lives could be individually recorded with relative ease (birthdays, sports, school pictures, etc.). But what about the events that were shared, like holidays, vacations, etc? I would have to create duplicate pages - one for each child's album. Then Grant came along, and I freaked out completely. How could I possibly keep up with 3 albums, and have a complete album for each child when they leave home? It was hard enough to find time to do one page/event/etc, let alone three pages! It seemed virtually impossible...until recently!

About a year ago, a friend mentioned that she was starting to "digitally" scrapbook. At first, I was skeptical - it didn't seem like it could have the same creative impact. Then a few weeks ago, I was asked to team teach a class on digital scrapbooking to the Young Women at church. Perfect opportunity to learn! A couple of other women in the stake were teaching with me, and they showed me their albums, and I was hooked!

Two weeks ago, I went to a scrapbook bed & breakfast (I know, I'm a complete nerd for even wanting to go to something like that!) with a friend up in Washington. I took my "paper" stuff, and completed about 25 pages...not too shabby. I also dragged along my mom's laptop (a whole other story in and of itself...suffice it to say my mom rocks!) and completed another 14 pages digitally. And since I've been home, it's all I want to do! Steve is beginning to resent the computer a bit, as I am spending too much of our evening "alone time" working on scrapbook pages!

I've discovered that there are just as many adorable "digital" elements/paper/etc. as there are "paper" ones, and many are free online. I can easily crop or enlarge pictures to any size, add frames, cute journaling, stitching...the possibilities are endless. I can use and re-use elements as many times as I want, even changing their colors to suit my needs. It truly is amazing. And then, I can upload the finished pages to Costco, and in about an hour, pick up a completed 12x12 page, ready to slip into one of four albums (family, and 1 for each child).

It's turned out to be the perfect "happy medium" for me - it is still a creative outlet for me, and I can create the page just once, and print three copies of it...or more if I want to make gift albums, etc. I'm OBSESSED!!!!!

Here are a few pages I recently completed

What kind of life am I living?

I came across this lecture, given by Dr. Randy Pausch on the Oprah Winfrey show back in October.  It's about 10 minutes long, but well worth watching.  Makes me want to do better...hope you feel the same.